


Over the Rainbow

by tastyboots



Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Fantastic Four, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Dimension Travel, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Genderswap, M/M, Romance, Self-cest, Sexswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2012-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastyboots/pseuds/tastyboots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Reed attempts science, Steph and Tasha's date gets interrupted, and Tony has a very interesting day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Rainbow

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my [Tumblr](http://tastyrepulsorboots.tumblr.com/post/34973728007/over-the-rainbow).

They've just sat down to eat when Jarvis interrupts.

"Pardon me, but Dr. Richards is on the line. He says there has been an incident at the Baxter Building that requires your attention."

Steph looks sadly at her full plate of delicious, steaming-hot food and lowers her fork with a sigh. Tasha's fork clatters to the table as she throws her arms into the air.

"Dammit Richards!"

\-----------

They arrive at the Baxter Building in uniform; Reed didn't specify that the situation called for Captain America and Iron Woman, but the use of the word "incident" is never a good thing. They hurry inside from the penthouse balcony only to find a distinct lack of fire, Doombots, aliens, or anything else out of the ordinary.

Tasha pops open the faceplate, "I thought you said there had been an incident, Richards." Beside her Stephanie is still tensed for attack, cowl down and shield up.

"There was," Reed says, "23 minutes ago a man appeared in the lab. Readings indicate possible transdimensional travel."

Tasha raises an eyebrow and Steph asks, "Was he armed?"

"No," Sue says, emerging from a door on the left, "Completely unarmed. He lost consciousness almost immediately after arriving and hasn't woken up yet, but he was carrying a wallet." She tosses it to Steph who catches it effortlessly. "Check out the driver's license."

Steph flips it open and pulls out the I.D. as instructed. Her eyebrows skyrocket into her hairline and she wordlessly hands it over to Tasha before she starts making grabby hands for it. Tasha scans over it and inspects the rest of the wallet before raising her gaze back to the couple in front of her.

"Take me to him."

\-----------

They have him on an exam table in one of the smaller side labs. Tasha is surprised they didn't strap him down and says as much to their hosts.

Sue picks something up off of another table and hands it to Tasha, "We did, but once we found out who he was we cut him loose. He was also carrying that."

 _That_ is a phone, definitely Stark tech, but the design is unlike anything Tasha has ever seen. It's also locked. "He could still be dangerous," she murmurs as she starts trying to break into the phone. She pauses, "Or an alien."

"Scans say healthy, human male. Well, besides the heart condition," Reed says.

Steph's pulled back the cowl, but she still hasn't put down the shield, "Well, even if he was an alien, I think the four of us could handle him."

Tasha pulls out her own phone, contemplates letting JARVIS take a whack at the lock, but decides against it. If she can't break into a Stark phone belonging to a male version of herself from another universe she'll eat her shorts. Or, you know, however that phrase goes.

\-----------

Tony wakes up with a groan. He feels like he's gone a few rounds with Thor without the armor. Tony's brain searches for someone to blame and immediately comes up with Reed Richards and his stupid portal. Admittedly, Tony hadn't been calling it stupid when he first saw it. Reed had called him in to look over the mechanics, make sure he wasn't missing anything crucial, and as much as Tony might think of Reed as an ass, he really did not want the guy to rip a hole in the fabric of space-time. At least not one that couldn't be closed and opened again on command. Tony may or may not have been secretly thrilled at the chance to get his hands on an actual motherfucking _portal_.

Tony had given it the all-clear and Reed had fired the thing up, but something must have gone wrong with the programming (the mechanics were perfectly stable, thank you very much). It was _supposed_ to be in a sort of view-only mode, but judging from the full-body ache that usually only resulted from a bad fight or really good sex, and the hazy memory of bright lights and shouting, Tony guesses that he probably isn't in Kansas anymore.

"Gonna kill that stretchy son of a bitch."

Tony opens his eyes to find a blonde woman hovering over him. A blonde woman wearing the Captain America uniform. He blinks a couple of times. A very attractive blonde woman wearing the Captain America uniform.

Tony sticks his hand out in her direction, "Tony Stark. I don't believe we've met."

She huffs, makes a face that he _knows_ he's seen on Steve before, and uses his hand to pull him upright, "Stephanie Rogers."

Tony winces at the strain on his sore muscles, "Back in Kansas you're a bit taller. And also a guy."

Stephanie's eyebrows scrunch together for a second, but then she smiles, "Yeah, well here in Oz, you're a bit shorter. And a woman."

Tony's eyebrows shoot up and he follows Stephanie's gaze to find a petite woman with short, dark hair in an absolutely gorgeous suit of armor (no really, he's gonna have to pick her brain about it, or better yet, get his hands on it, later) fiddling with something in her hands, and-- "Hey, that's my phone!"

Girl Tony grins, "Yep." She fiddles with his phone for another moment while Tony stares at her and then lets out a triumphant cry, "Not as slick as you think, Stark." She flips his phone around to show him his unlocked background.

"Hey! That's-- That's invasion of privacy--"

"Well, seeing as how we're sort of the same person, I'm not sure how well that's gonna hold up in court."

Tony gapes at her and indignantly hops off the table when she mumbles something about his photos (ow) and is fortunately steadied by another pair of hands. Tony gives this universe's Sue Storm and, beyond her, Reed Richards a cursory once-over. "How come you two aren't all... gender.. swapy?"

Sue shrugs, but Reed's got that look that probably mean's that Tony's just given him his next project. Tony turns back to his girl version, takes a second to wrap his mind around the fact that Rule 63 might actually be a thing, and asks, "So what do I call you?"

She doesn't even look up from his phone as she says, "Tasha. Or Natasha Antonia Stark if you wanna get fancy."

"Natasha? Huh. Do you guys have a Romanoff here?"

Tasha taps at his phone and Tony restrains himself from leaping for it when she casually hands it over to Stephanie, "Yeah, Nikolai. Why?"

"Huh," Tony says again, watching Stephanie study something on his phone's screen, "Ours is a Natasha, too."

"Hmm..." Tasha glances back to Tony's poor, kidnapped cell, "The hot redhead who's not Pepper?"

"Yes," Tony replies, "How did you get into my pictures?"

Tasha waggles her fingers, "Magic hands."

Stephanie finally ( _finally!_ ) hands him his phone back and points to the picture on the screen, "Is that your, uh... Rogers?"

Tony looks down to see a picture of Steve. It's a nice photo, especially considering Tony had taken it while pretending to text during a debriefing. He can't remember what they'd been talking about, but Steve has a quiet sort of smile on his face that does funny things to Tony's chest that he doesn't really want to analyze. He pauses, wonders how long it'll take them to get him back home to his own universe, when (or if) he'll get to see him again.

"Yeah," he says, "That's Steve." He looks back up at Stephanie and pastes on a smirk, "But I have to say, you're much easier on the eyes."

"Cool it, hot stuff," Tasha says, "She's with me."

Tony starts to grin, but then his brain catches up to the conversation and his jaw drops. He replays what she just said and blinks, "Uh. _With_ with?"

Now it's Tasha's turn to smirk, " _With_ with."

Tony turns to Stephanie. There's a light blush on her cheeks, but she holds her chin up like she's used to catching shit for it, so Tony mentally backspaces the lewd remark and instead faces Tasha and says, "Congrats. You're a lucky woman," and when he looks at Stephanie again, she's smiling at him and it kinda sorta takes his breath away.

"Hey guys, do you think you could give us a minute?" Tasha addresses the room at large, but she's only got eyes for Stephanie.

Sue and Reed file out first, Sue with a, "Holler if he turns out to be an alien."

Stephanie walks over to put a hand on Tasha's shoulder and they seem to have some silent conversation for a moment before Stephanie casts a quick glace at Tony, gives Tasha a chaste kiss, and follows Reed and Sue out. Tony and Tasha gaze after her.

"She doesn't usually do that," Tasha murmurs.

"What," Tony says, "Do what you ask? I've got the same problem with Steve. For a soldier he's pretty awful at taking orders."

"No, kiss me in front of other people. I mean, that, too. I guess the bossiness is a Rogers thing no matter what gender. Or, well, sex."

Tony frowns, "Not big on the PDA?"

Tasha nods, "And we're still sorta getting used to..." she waves her hands around a bit, "...This."

"Being together or being with a woman?"

Tasha huffs, "Both. Figures you'd get it. How long have you and Steve been together?"

"Uh," Tony fiddles with his phone, turns it off and shoves it in his pocket, "We're, uh... Not."

Tasha's eyebrows furrow. "But you wish you were, right? I mean... All those pictures on your phone... And your face when Steph asked you about him... And... Well, it's Captain America, right?"

Tony scrubs at the back of his neck, "It's... complicated."

"You think it wasn't complicated for us? Steph's a goddamn national icon. I'm CEO of an international company. And we're _women_. That's hard enough as it is, but we're also superheroes, and up until somewhat recently, we were both struggling with our own sexuality. So, yeah, I get it. It's complicated. But let me tell you something," Tasha glances back at the door Stephanie left through and smiles, "It's worth it."

"I don't deserve-- I mean, I'm not even sure Steve swings that way, but even if he did, I can't imagine him being too interested in the colossal fuck-up that is Tony Stark."

Tasha walks over and puts her hand on his cheek. It's the first time she's touched him and it's kinda strange, but mostly just nice.

"I get it," she says, softer, "I do. I keep expecting her to realize her mistake and take off, but it's worth it, Tony." He shivers at his name but she continues. "It's worth the sleepless nights wondering if today will be the day she wakes up and comes to her senses, because even if she does leave me tomorrow, I will have gotten to spend today with her. And I know that sounds cheesy, but fuck it, it's true. Fuck complicated. It's worth it."

Tony's not really sure what happens, but he opens his mouth to say something, and ends up kissing her. And it's weird and probably wrong, but it's _nice_. He's never been this open with anyone, never had someone know _exactly_ what he's thinking. And it's doubly nice because after a second, Tasha kisses him back. And Tony brings his hand up to her hair, and it's weirdly both sexual and not.

They break apart and Tasha leans her forehead against his and says, "Guess I can check that off the bucket list."

Tony laughs, "Is Stephanie going to be jealous?"

"Nah. She's a better person than us."

"Yeah," Tony says. He opens his mouth to say more. Wants to spill out all his secrets and then have her lick their echoes off his tongue-- But then the lab door bursts open and Stephanie steps through.

She blinks at them and he can see her push her questions to the back of her mind so that she can focus, "Something's happening. Reed says it looks like the portal is re-opening."

Tony and Tasha rush after Stephanie into the main lab. Near the center of the room, right where Tony vaguely remembers arriving here, a shimmery circle of light is forming. A crackle of energy goes through the room, and then suddenly the circle of light expands to reveal a lab similar to the one they're standing in, but in a whole other universe. Tony can see Reed typing furiously at the portal's control panel, and then Steve steps into view, all decked out in the stars and stripes.

"Tony!" Steve shouts, and Tony involuntarily steps forward.

"Oh wait!" Sue rushes forward and presses his wallet into his hands. Tony smiles in thanks.

He looks back at Steve 15 feet and a universe away and calls, "How much time do we have?"

Reed starts rattling off numbers, but Steve interrupts him with a, "Not long. Get your ass back here, Stark."

Reed steps forward then, shakes Tony's hand, and then stabs Tony in the neck with a syringe.

"Hey!" Tony reels back and out of the corner of his eye he can see Steve step closer to the portal.

"Sorry," Reed says, holding up the syringe that Tony can now see is partially full of his blood, "Science."

Tony's about to snatch his blood back when Stephanie swirls him around.

"You don't have much time," she says. She kisses him on the cheek, smiles, and pushes him gently toward the portal. "Go."

Tony walks toward the portal, stops, runs back to Tasha, and pulls her into his arms. She hugs back for all she's worth. Which, in the armor is a lot. Tony whimpers and Tasha lets go, muttering an apology.

"Tony! Please!" Steve shouts, and this time he holds his arm out through the portal, "Don't make me come get you."

Tony smiles and runs back, grabs his hand and lets Steve pull him through the portal and back to Kansas. Steve doesn't let go of Tony's hand. He brings his other hand up to Tony's shoulder and starts looking him over for injuries.

"Hey!" Tasha calls through the rapidly shrinking circle of light, "Good luck!"

Tony grins, "Same to you!"

Tony sees Stephanie put her arm around her iron lady and pull her close, and then the portal snaps shut and vanishes with another crackle of energy. Tony has a feeling he shouldn't touch anything metal for a while.

Steve squeezes his hand, "Made some new friends?"

Tony smiles, "Yeah... Do you wanna maybe get some food? I'm starving and it's a pretty interesting story."

Steve blinks down at him and then smiles back, "Yeah, that'd be nice."

Reed steps out from behind the control panel and stretches an arm to hit the button for the elevator, "I'll grab my coat."

"Not you, Richards." Tony and Steve say simultaneously, not looking away from each other.

"Oh..."

Tony chuckles and leads Steve over to the elevator, "Hot dogs or something fancier?"

The elevator doors ding open and Steve pulls them inside, "I like hot dogs. I know a great place just down the street."

"Yeah," Tony says. He reaches over to press the Close Doors button, "There's no place like home."


End file.
